Geographically extensive communication networks such as the Internet are substantially viewed as being geographicless in the sense that such networks extend across substantially all national and all local country, state, and political boundaries. Accordingly, it has been difficult to monitor and/or provide certain services on networks, such as the Internet, due to the network not having sufficient capability for respecting such boundaries. Moreover, while legal statutes may cause certain network sites to be restricted in their network services due to the site's geographical location being within the jurisdiction for such statutes, other network sites outside of the area to which the statutes apply may have an unfair advantage in that the prohibited services can be offered to substantially all network users from such latter network sites, In particular, the above described general scenario applies to gambling on the Internet in that, e.g., Internet sites within the United States are prohibited, in general, from offering wagering on games such as blackjack, poker, pai gow, craps and roulette due to gambling restrictions in various U.S. states and/or counties or other legal jurisdictions.
Additionally, other communication network services are also either not available or not appropriately restricted due to the lack of being able to locate and/or verify the locations of network users. In particular, certain software products have been determined by various governments to be restricted in their dissemination across national boundaries. Accordingly, if network users could have their locations verified, then such restrictions in the downloading of software from the Internet could be better enforced. Additionally, by verifying a location of a network user, network services could be effectively taxed according to the user's location when purchasing a network service such as the downloading of software via the Internet.
Moreover, by verifying a network user's location, a network site in communication with the user may be able to adapt its services and/or display to present to the user relevant information and services related to a geographical area within which the user is determined to be located. For example, an Internet website can utilize a verification of a user's location for selecting or prioritizing: (a) a list of additional websites offering services that are available near the user's location, and/or (b) advertising of services or products locally available to the user. Note that the verification (or more precise determination) of a user's location in the present context may be particularly important for wireless Internet users who are traveling and/or who do not know their current location. For example, providing such an Internet website for the travel industry, allows a user to access the website from different locations (via, e.g., different hotel Internet connections, or via a mobile wireless Internet connection), and subsequently select locally related advertising and other local information such as locally preferred restaurants, locations of scenic sites, a listing of local events, etc. based on the user's location and optionally the date and time (as contemplated by the present invention).
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a network based capability for geographically verifying and/or more precisely determining the location of network users for allowing, restricting, and/or selecting network services according to each user's location.